Mindful vs. traditional martial arts toward improved academic grades in children diagnosed with ADHD

While medication and psychotherapy are the current best practice in treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), their benefits and aim are too peripheral and topical -- neither resolving the neurological origin of deficits.

Moreover, many are opposed to these treatments and there are few substantiated and readily accepted alternatives. The consequences of ADHD have a ripple effect -- as does the lack of more palatable, efficacious, and proactive interventions for children with the disorder. Research has reported wide-ranging benefits for mindfulness and martial arts, independent of one another, yet research addressing the potential academic benefits of integrating these disciplines for ADHD children has not been found. Based on Siegel's neurological theory of mindfulness, the executive dysfunction model of ADHD, and research on mindfulness and traditional martial arts, it is proposed that a clinical application of mindfulness-based...
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